Partitioning sexual selection into its mating success and fertilization success components.

ABSTRACT: Postcopulatory sexual selection due to sperm competition and/or cryptic female choice has been documented in a diversity of taxonomic groups and is considered a pivotal component of sexual selection. Despite this apparent importance, the relative contribution of postcopulatory fertilization success to overall sexual selection has not yet been measured in any species. Here, we used a laboratory-adapted population of the promiscuous fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to partition the variance in male reproductive success into mating success (a major component of precopulatory sexual selection) and fertilization success (a major component of postcopulatory sexual selection). We found that fertilization success contributed nearly as strongly as mating success to a male's net performance in sexu

SUBMITTER: Pischedda A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3277537 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature